


Surface Tension

by enigmaticblue



Series: A Sentinel in need of a Guide [6]
Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Disabled Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Penetrative Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:28:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26564395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: Jim had never been self-conscious about his physical appearance before this.
Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg
Series: A Sentinel in need of a Guide [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/21375
Comments: 8
Kudos: 66
Collections: Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Surface Tension

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the hc_bingo prompt “burns” and the trope_bingo prompt “non-penetrative sex.”

Jim was grateful that Blair didn’t press for more than just lazy kisses. When they were both sitting on the couch, the chair didn’t matter, and Jim didn’t mind having Blair sprawled on top of him.

The problem was that Jim hadn’t been with anyone since he was hurt, and no one had ever seen his scars, other than his doctors.

He’d never been self-conscious about his physical appearance before this.

Blair broke off the kiss and asked breathlessly, “I’m not crushing you, am I?”

“I can take your weight easy, Chief,” Jim replied, amused. “You’re not hurting me.”

Blair looked at him searchingly. “How long has it been for you?”

“Longer than I want to admit,” Jim said.

Blair smiled. “We’ll take it slow, right?”

“That would be good,” Jim admitted.

Blair gave him one last lingering kiss. “I should probably get to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jim was grateful that they’d cleared out his storage room for a bedroom. It gave him some privacy with Blair in the loft.

He slept well that night, and showered the next morning, and his burn scars itched as usual. The ones on his chest and arm weren’t hard to reach with the cream that the doctor gave him, but there were a few on his back that were a constant sense of discomfort.

Jim knew he could ask Blair for help, and Blair wouldn’t blink, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for Blair to see the extensive, ropy scars yet.

He pulled on a t-shirt and shorts, since he wasn’t going anywhere but the loft today. It was a rare day when he didn’t have a therapy appointment, or errands to run.

“Hey,” Blair said when Jim wheeled out of the bathroom. “I made coffee. Do you want some?”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Jim said. He was getting better at accepting help, or at least accepting when Blair wanted to do something nice for him, without viewing it as a referendum on his ability to do it for himself.

“Do you want to get breakfast?” Blair asked hopefully. “Or I could make something.”

Jim hesitated. “Do you mind if we stay in?”

He still didn’t like going out in public, especially going to a place where he wasn’t certain about the accessibility.

Blair shook his head. “No, I think we have some eggs in the fridge that should probably be used up.”

“Thanks,” Jim replied.

Blair shrugged. “Of course.”

Jim put his dirty clothes in the hamper in his room, and shifted in his chair, trying to scratch the itchy scar tissue without irritating it as well.

Blair gave him a sharp look when Jim emerged from his bedroom. “Is your back bothering you?”

“No more than usual,” Jim replied.

“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know,” Blair replied.

Jim knew the day was coming when he took Blair up on that offer, but not today. He wasn’t quite ready.

~~~~~

Blair had seen hints of Jim’s scars, peeking out from the sleeve of his t-shirt and running up the back of his neck. But Jim had never had his shirt off around Blair, and he hadn’t seemed inclined to go any further than kissing yet. Blair had no idea how extensive Jim’s scars were, but he’d done a bit of research, and he knew that burn scars could be difficult to manage.

“I have office hours tonight, but I can pick up dinner on my way home if you want,” Blair offered.

“I can cook,” Jim replied. “I’m just going to be studying today, and I don’t mind.”

“How is that coming, by the way?” Blair asked.

Jim shrugged. “It’s coming. I guess we’ll see when I take the test.”

Blair knew that Jim would do well. He’d been working too hard not to, and he was too determined, now that he’d chosen his course of action. Still, Jim was reticent to talk about it, and Blair won’t press. “Next month, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Jim replied with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Blair grabbed his pack and was passing by Jim when Jim grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a kiss. “Be careful,” Jim said.

Blair grinned at him. “Always.”

He was teaching two classes that day, with an afternoon ride-along with a patrol officer. Officer Stevens had known Jim when he first joined the department, and he didn’t seem too put out to be doing Jim a favor by having Blair tagalong.

“Captain Banks said you’d been really good for Jim,” Stevens said. “I know he had a rough time after that last case.”

Blair shrugged. “I hope that I have been. Jim is the strongest person I know.”

“Hard to come back from something like that,” Stevens commented.

“Jim’s a fighter,” Blair commented, uncertain as to whether Jim would want anyone to know his current plans for law school.

“What made you decide to do your dissertation on the police?” Stevens asked.

Blair shrugged. “I’ve always wondered about closed societies, and I’ve run into a few on my travels. I wanted to see how they compare here.”

He didn’t say anything about his original plan, because he didn’t want to try to explain what a Sentinel was, or why he and Jim met.

“Too much school for me,” Stevens admitted. “What will you do when you’re done? Teach?”

“That’s one idea,” Blair replied. “I used to think I’d go on expeditions, but I think I’d prefer to stay in Cascade.”

“Easy to stay in place when you start putting down roots,” Stevens commented.

“I never really have before,” Blair admitted.

Stevens smiled. “Jim was probably one of the most rooted people I’ve known.”

“You can say that again,” Blair said.

The afternoon passed fairly quickly, with Stevens telling stories about his and Jim’s time at the Academy, and some of the more interesting situations he’d found himself in on patrol. Blair enjoyed getting some insight into the life of a patrol officer, although there weren’t any calls while he was with Stevens.

“Sorry it was a boring day, Professor,” Stevens joked with him when they pulled back into the station. “Tell Jim I said hi, okay?”

“Will do,” Blair agreed. “Thanks for letting me tag along today, boring or not.”

Blair headed to the university next, where he worked on his dissertation for a couple of hours before the first student showed up for office hours. It was still early in the semester, so only a couple of his over-achieving students showed up.

The last one, Gordie, had a ton of questions, and wanted to know about how he could go on expeditions, and what pre-requirements he would need to complete in order to be considered as a student.

So, it was nearly seven before Blair got back to the loft, and he walked in to the scent of one of Jim’s casseroles, something that was easy and redolent with cheese. “Hey, sorry I’m late,” Blair said. “I had a consultation with a student that went long.”

“It’s fine,” Jim replied with a faint smile, shifting uncomfortably.

Blair realized that he’d seen Jim do that before, but he’d always assumed that it was pain. “You okay?”

“Just some pain,” Jim admitted reluctantly. “And my back itches.”

Blair waited for Jim to say more, but that was apparently the extent of his admission. “Did the doctor give you a cream for that?”

Jim mumbled something.

“I didn’t quite catch that,” Blair said, unable to resist from teasing Jim a bit.

“There are some spots I can’t reach,” Jim said a little louder.

Blair started eating. “So? You know I’ll help. It’s just like when you helped me wash my hair.”

“It’s not like that at all,” Jim argued, his voice rising.

“How is that?” Blair asked. “I couldn’t wash my hair with the stitches in my hand, and you have some hard-to-reach places.”

Jim glared at him from his spot on the couch. “It’s _not_ the same.”

Blair decided to push just a bit. “And how is that?”

“Your hair is beautiful,” Jim muttered.

Blair blushed at the compliment. _And my scars aren’t_ , Blair heard, even if Jim refused to say it out loud. “If you think for one moment that your scars would bother me, you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”

Jim winced. “No, I know that.”

“Okay, so I eat, and then I’ll put some cream on your back,” Blair said reasonably.

“Thanks,” Jim said grudgingly.

Blair didn’t take offense, because he knew Jim, and he knew that his attitude was more about Jim’s discomfort with Blair seeing his scars than anything else.

Blair finished his dinner, and washed the dishes, putting the leftovers in the fridge.

When he walked into the living room, Jim was sitting on the couch, wearing an uncertain expression.

“Where’s the cream?” Blair asked.

“Under the sink in the bathroom,” Jim replied.

Blair remembered seeing it, although he hadn’t known its purpose He grabbed it, and came back out to the living room. Jim had taken his t-shirt off, and was wearing a defiant expression.

Blair saw the pattern of scarring, licking around Jim’s left arm, shoulder, and pec.

“They think my shirt caught fire,” Jim began slowly. “And that I must have somehow put it out. I can’t remember, though.”

“Lean forward,” Blair ordered.

The scarring on Jim’s back was extensive, traveling up the back of his neck, covering a good portion of his upper back in ropy tissue, fading out halfway down. The scars were raised and discolored, and Blair saw that some of the scars looked irritated, the skin dry and breaking down.

“Jim, man, this doesn’t look great. Why didn’t you ask for help sooner?”

Jim just shook his head.

“Okay, we’ll get it taken care of,” Blair said, knowing that further scolding will not help matters. He began to smooth cream into the scars, and felt Jim shudder. “Does that feel okay?”

Jim hesitated. “It feels fine. It’s just—hard to explain.”

“Try?”

“It feels overly sensitized and numb all at once,” Jim admitted.

“Does it hurt?”

“No,” Jim admitted. “It just feels weird.”

“Well, let me know if it does start hurting,” Blair replied, smoothing cream into the scar tissue.

Jim takes a breath. “Is it bad?”

“It’s a badge of courage,” Blair said quietly. “That’s what I see.”

~~~~~

Jim couldn’t get comfortable. He wasn’t worried about Blair being late; he knew that office hours often went long when Blair was helping one of his students.

The pain was pretty bad today, and his back was itching something fierce, distracting him from studying. In spite of his sound sleep the night before, Jim was tired and cranky, and he had little energy. He wasn’t making as much progress as he would have liked, and he didn’t have much will to cook that night. He threw together a chicken and rice casserole and stuck it in the oven, trying to scratch his back against his chair without irritating the skin further.

When Blair arrived, Jim was uncomfortable and itchy, even though he tried not to let on to that.

Blair, as usual, saw right through him, and when he insisted on helping, Jim decided to allow it, if for no other reason than to just get it over with. Blair would see his scars at some point anyway. When Blair ordered him to lean forward, Jim did so, giving Blair access to the worst of his scars.

Blair’s hand was firm, but gentle, rubbing the cream into the scar tissue on his back without any indication that he was repulsed.

He shuddered at the sensation, feeling it right down to his bones. It had been so long since he’d been touched like this, and he felt his nerves sing.

Jim couldn’t remember why he was afraid of Blair’s reaction. Blair’s touch was soothing, and he felt the tension leaving his shoulders, and the rest of him. Blair’s murmured reassurance was exactly what Jim had needed to hear.

“How often did the doctor say this needs to be done?” Blair asked.

Jim appreciated the way Blair asked the question, not giving Jim an out.“Every day, at least.”

“Okay, then I’ll do it for you,” Blair said. “Every time you get out of the shower, you come to me.”

Jim nodded, unable to respond. He felt Blair’s hand, and the firm pressure, and he felt himself respond.He still had a libido, but not everything worked as well as it used to.

“Better?” Blair asked.

“Yeah,” Jim said hoarsely. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“We’ll figure it out together,” Blair promised, “just like everything else.”

Jim felt choked up, and he couldn’t say why.

“Hey,” Blair said, turning Jim’s head with gentle fingers. “You’re okay. It’s going to be fine. Come on.”

Their kiss was reassurance and love and security. Jim found himself relaxing by inches, and then Blair began kissing down his neck, tracing the scar tissue with his lips and then his tongue.

Jim shuddered. “Blair, you don’t have anything to prove.”

“Who says I’m proving anything?” Blair asked.

“Blair…”

“Just sit back and enjoy it,” Blair advised, and kept going.

Jim threw his head back against the couch, feeling Blair’s mouth on his neck and shoulder.

“Can you handle my mouth on your dick?” Blair asked.

Jim wanted it, but he didn’t think he would be able to handle it. His sense of touch was dialed up too much. “No. I can’t—I feel too much.”

“How about I jerk us both off?” Blair suggested.

Jim didn’t know how to respond. Blair’s touch felt so welcome and also like fire. “Blair…”

“Okay,” Blair said quietly. “Just relax. I’ve got you.”

Blair worked Jim’s shorts down his hips, and Jim hissed when Blair’s hand closed around his dick. “Blair.”

“I know,” Blair said soothingly. “It’s a lot right now, but you just ride it out with me, big guy. Just relax, because I have you.”

Slowly, surely, Blair’s touch changed from too much to not enough, and Jim said, “Please, more.”

“You’ve got it,” Blair promised. “I’m always going to give you what you need.”

And then Blair’s dick was out, and it was both of them together, and Jim didn’t think it could have been better, not with Blair kneeling over him and jerking them both off at once.

And then Jim was coming, and it didn’t matter that his legs didn’t work, and Blair came shortly thereafter.

Jim looked up at him. “Thank you.”

Blair cupped Jim’s cheek with his clean hand. “We’re in this together.”

And Jim felt that right down to his bones. “Yeah, we are.”


End file.
